An IBM “electronic data processing machine” at NASA in 1957. (Photo: NASA on the Commons/flickr)
Join in a conversation about a new craft emerging in the wake of AI.
Tuesday 26 August 0800 GMT on the Zoom platform (with auto-translate captions)
The growing adoption of AI in computer programming has sparked concerns about job displacement and a potential decline in coding quality. In response, an artisanal programming movement has emerged, advocating for manual coding as a more reliable and accountable approach to software development.
This sentiment echoes the historical anxieties of the Industrial Revolution, when mechanical looms supplanted the livelihoods of village hand weavers. Despite the efficiency gains of industrialisation, it also highlighted the intrinsic value of handcrafted goods. Can a similar dynamic unfold in the more abstract realm of coding?
While it is tempting to automatically take the side of manual process, it is important to consider the practical issues faced by software developers as they try to keep up with ever more complex code.
Guests:
Vikas Gorur started programming at the age of fifteen and has been doing it for twenty-four years now. He is a history buff in general and specifically the history of computing and the evolution of programming as a craft. Professionally, he’s been through the founding to acquisition startup cycle twice, most recently as the head of engineering at Airbase, a B2B startup. He also worked as a software engineer at Twitter (2013-16), back when we thought social media might not be entirely bad for the world. He writes occasionally at gorur.dev
Daisy Watt is a weaver of 10 years who’s worked as a software engineer for the last 3 years by following the threads of pattern, structure and repetition from loom to code. For her, technology is another kind of craft, its logic rooted in the history of weaving. She has made and sold handwoven textiles for years, freelanced in the fashion and textile industry, and taught digital design and weaving at RMIT University. Heavily involved in the community, she’s helped rescue, restore and is now updating a rare hand-operated Jacquard loom with more modern digital capabilities. She volunteers with Refugees Code Melbourne, teaching creative coding workshops for kids and occasionally helps out at Creative Tech Melbourne too. Her practice reflects on the shared structures of weaving and code and asks how we might hold on to care and human skill in the face of automation.
Join us for a discussion that explores this question, examining artificial intelligence from a craft perspective. Register in advance here.
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